Joanie and Leland Just Keep Going

In a way, it still is. You may have heard about Joan Benoit Samuelson, at the U.S. Masters Indoor Track & Field Championship[4] meet this weekend. The timeless 51-year-old matriarch of U.S. Distance Running added another impressive record to her incredible career.

But at the same meet, a relatively unknown man from San Diego[5] accomplished something that might be even more impressive.

For those who didn’t see it, Joanie blasted through a 3,000m[6] in 10 minutes and 22.69 seconds, setting a new American age group record at the distance. She did this despite her left hip giving out just seconds into the race. As she’s done so many times in her storied career, Joanie ran through the discomfort and earned a championship.

Meanwhile, over at the field events, something happened that might be even more inspiring.

In the weight toss, Leland McPhie[7] threw a 35-pound mass nearly 22 feet. It wasn’t a record, but it was good enough to win his age group.

That age group? 95 years and older.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be glad if I can spell my first name at that age.

McPhie is different. According to a 2007 article[7] by the San Diego Union-Tribune, McPhie stays incredibly active, training five days a week. He also owns a list of master’s records[8].

“He does a crossword puzzle each day,” McPhie’s granddaughter, Rochelle Michaels, told the Trib. “He has continued to exercise all his life. He has a strong spirit. He’s amazingly inspirational.”

McPhie's life reads like one of those classic “Greatest Generation” stories:

As a student at San Bernadino Valley College in 1935, he set a pole vault record with a rod made out of bamboo.

He joined the Army during World War II, serving in the European theater.

After the war he joined the San Diego police force and raised five children with his wife, who passed away in 2000.

Working for the State Department in Vietnam from 1969 to 1973, McPhee took up tennis. Years later, after a San Diego Senior Olympics tennis competition in 1994, McPhie hopped into a 50-meter dash race at a nearby track, which sparked his return to running.

When a leaky heart valve forced him to have open heart surgery about a decade later, McPhie switched to the field events.

The Trib asked McPhie when he planned to stop competing. His reply: “Not until I have to.”

Sounds a lot like Joanie’s famous quote: “There is no finish line.” Doesn’t it?

Both McPhie and Joanie have changed their sports a few times. After last year's Olympic Marathon Trials (where she also set an age-group record), Joanie said she'd never run a competitive marathon again. But like a certain unrelenting commercial bunny, they both just keep going. And as a result, great things happen. McPhie even went on to set records[9] in the triple jump and high jump.

He wasn't alone. 94-year-old Grace Foster of Tabernacle, N.J. set a record at 60 meters, finishing in 31.22 seconds. Sumi Onodera-Leonard set a new 800m world record for women over 80. In the Men's 75-79 division, Bob Ward of Dallas, Texas set new long distances for throws on each day of the competition.

These competitors show us that the choice to be an athlete is a choice we make each day. There are differences in our talents, and (probably a lot of) luck involved. Most of us won't break records. But if we stay committed, we can keep going.